1 Business Method Patents The USPTO Perspective Prepared for the Casualty Actuary Society Annual Meeting November 15, by John J. Love The United States Patent and Trademark Office USPTOUSPTO

2 The Patent Examination Process Once a patent application is filed, it is initially classified in USPCS and assigned based on the claims in the application. The Patent Office is separated into basically three engineering areas which are: chemical electrical mechanical USPTOUSPTO

3 The Patent Examination Process The “first office action” reflects the examiner’s position on patentability re the application and the claims. It is a written position which usually includes:  rejections of claims  citations of prior art  possible indications of allowable subject matter Most applications are initially rejected. USPTOUSPTO

4 The Patent Examination Process Compact Prosecution Principles The “second office action” is typically in the form of: allowance or final rejection USPTOUSPTO

5 The Patent Examination Process Appeal Process An applicant may appeal a second rejection to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. See 35 USC 134. A Notice of Appeal followed by an Appeal Brief is required The examiner will then prepare an Examiner’s Answer and the application is forwarded to the Board for decision. USPTOUSPTO

6 The Patent Examination Process Reexamination Proceedings Questions concerning the patentability of an issued patent based on prior art patents or printed publications may be addressed through the reexamination process. There are two types: ex-parte reexamination inter-partes reexamination USPTOUSPTO

7 The Examination Process Allowance First Examination FirstExamination Notice of Allowance Second Examination Amendment SecondExamination Appeal Process Appeal Brief Appeal Process Rejection USPTOUSPTO

Patent Searches by the Public Can be performed: At the USPTO At Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries (PTDL’s) throughout the United States; more than 80 located in all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico. List of PTDLs by state provided on USPTO web site Online - USPTOUSPTO

Public On-Line Searching Text and image searching at the USPTO and 31 PTDL’s. Commercial Data Bases (DIALOG, STN, ORBIT, etc.) INTERNET (multitude of new files) USPTO web site [ USPTOUSPTO

10 Examiner Searching in Business Methods Mandatory Searching in issued patents and U.S. application publications (according to our classification schedule)  WEST (text) - electronic search of patents  NPL - electronic search of non-patent literature Search Strategy Advisory Panel  Consists of senior examiners and search experts. A resource examiners can consult to get assistance on searches USPTOUSPTO

11 Class 705 Art Units AU Business Cryptography AU Incentive Programs/Coupons AU Operations Research, Voting, Transportation AU Finance & Banking (even number applications) AU E-shopping AU Health Care/Insurance AU Point of sale/Inventory/Accounting AU Finance & Banking (odd numbered applications) AU 3629 – Business Processing, Cost/Price, Reservations USPTOUSPTO

12 Top Assignees by Patent Grants Fujitsu LTD:59 patents NCR: 58 patents (cash registers/e-commerce) Hitachi: 46 patents (cash registers/e-commerce) Walker Digital: 46 patents Citibank N.A. 30 patents (e-commerce) Microsoft: 30 patents (e-commerce) AT&T: 28 patents (e-commerce) Matsushita Electric: 24 patents (e-commerce) IBM: 145 patents (cash registers/e-commerce) Pitney-Bowes: 90 patents (postage/utility metering) USPTOUSPTO

13 Filing Trends in 705

14 Examiner Growth Year FY ‘99 FY ’00 FY ‘01 FY ’02 FY ’03 #Examiners #Patents Issued Allowance * 55% 45% 26% 16% Rate * Data not available USPTOUSPTO

15 Distribution of Business Applications (FY 2002 data) USPTOUSPTO

16 Second Pair of Eyes All applications issued in class 705 go through a 2nd level of review  Ensures search requirements are met  Reasons for Allowance in every case  Scope of the Claims is appropriate USPTOUSPTO

17 Industry Outreach Customer Partnership Since September, 2000, we have increased partnership participants from 10 to almost 40 industry organizations. Some of our partnership organizations include BITS, (formerly the Banking Industry Technology Secretariat), the Electronic Payments Association (NACHA), the Securities Industry Association (SIA), the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), the American Banking Association (ABA), the NASDAQ Stock Exchange, IBM and Swiss Re. USPTOUSPTO

18 Industry Outreach - Partnership meetings  First joint partnership meeting held on March 1,  Second meeting held November, 2001  Third meeting held July, 2002  Fourth meeting held April, 2003  Attendance typically includes approximately 60 representatives from the business and legal community, trade associations and academia. USPTOUSPTO

19 Industry Outreach  Roundtable Forum A Roundtable forum was convened by the USPTO in July,  Industry Feedback We continually work with Industry to obtain feedback on current prior art resources, and we actively solicit input on ways to expand resources to include other databases and information collections that we do not currently use in Class 705.  We have addressed several industry organizations and received feedback. USPTOUSPTO

20 NPL Commercial Databases The examiners have access to over 900 Commercial Databases that maintain scientific and business related NPL. The electronic information center (EIC) of Technology Center 3600 assists the examiners working in Class 705 in locating relevant NPL. The EIC provides examiners with:  examiner library/search support  professional searchers to perform non- patent literature (NPL) searches USPTOUSPTO

21 What Can Industry Do? Help us identify relevant prior art!  Share databases, training materials Provide us with training Become familiar with the business methods web page USPTOUSPTO

22 Thank You Questions? USPTOUSPTO